Masikhule held its annual information sharing meeting for 2020 last week, to share its goals and plans for the year with more than 50 Early Childhood Development (ECD) principals and educators.
Masikhule, a Somerset West-based registered Non-Profit (NPO) and public benefit organisation (PBO), offers a wide variety of services in ECD, providing essential skills to enable
ECD educators to effectively, stimulate, educate and nurture pre-school children in their communities, and to provide opportunities for upskilling and employment.
“We believe it is essential that children enter formal school well prepared, independent and with learning competencies,” said Léanne Keet, who founded Masikhule in 2005.
“This meeting is held annually, establishing and maintaining our ongoing partnerships with the principals of the Early Learning Centres we work with and mentor in order to achieve these outcomes.”
These Early Learning Centres educate and nurture nearly 2 000 children from 0 to 6 years in mar-
ginalised communities – from Macassar through to Sir Lowry’s Pass Village.
The women who run them have attended many of the Masikhule training courses, as have their
staff, and they have been mentored by Masikhule over the years, striving towards being centres of excellence, and registration with the Department of Social Development.
“Thanks to partnerships with Joint Aid Management (JAM) South Africa, providing nutritious porridge to 45 centres through Masikhule this year, and The Lunchbox Fund, providing a daily meal to a further three centres, along with our Best Nutrition Workshop, there are more than
2 000 pre-school children receiving the nutrition they need daily,” said Ms Keet.
This year Masikhule is offering the following ECD training for women from impoverished communities of the Helderberg:
Baby and Toddler Training Course (First 1 000 Days)
ECD Educator Training Course (for educators and volunteers in Early Learning Centres)
Advanced ECD Educator Training Course (for educators who want to continue training)
Teaching Enrichment Workshops (for senior educators and principals)
Best Nutrition Workshop (for cooks in these centres)
ECD Business Management (for principals).
Masikhule is currently developing and testing a stimulating curriculum for each age group, and rolling out an Early Inter-
vention Project involving screening, identifying developmental barriers and addressing them through educator training, some occupational therapy and access to relevant resources through their educators’ Early Learning Resource Library.
For more information on the organisation, or to contribute towards their costs for training and mentoring, email Léanne Keet on info@masikhule.org or visit www.masikhule.org
